The Orange Plan and Zoning Commission denied a proposal to amend regulations that would allow 119 units of housing to be built at the current location of Firelight Plaza.
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“You’re putting a dress on a pig and trying to tell us it’s a prom queen,” said Plan and Zoning Commission Chairman Walter “Beau” Clark, IV.
The amended regulation was drafted by potential buyers for the property. They proposed a permitted use that would allow up to 19 housing units per acre at the location. The plaza property at the corner of Racebrook Road and Old Tavern Road constitutes 6.6 acres.
The buyers intended to create a “town center district” where the building would contain retail, office and residential spaces. It was designed to resemble a contained village concept popular in cities, a fact that didn’t sit well with members of the audience.
“If this passes you might as well change the town seal, it won’t be a town anymore it will be a city,” said James Hatrick Jr., who owns an abutting property to the plaza.
Selectman Mitch Goldblatt questioned if the design really reflected the nature of the community. The proposal from the potential buyers would allow for a five-story building at that location, though they were presenting plans for a four-story mixed-use enclave including a central courtyard and covered parking.
“I’m not against a mixed-use development, per se,” Orange Selectman Mitch Goldblatt said, speaking as a member of the public. “I was really shocked to see this as a four to five story building.”
Goldblatt suggested that perhaps a smaller building with fewer floors would better fit the community. Attorney John Knuff of Hurwitz, Sagarin, Slossberg & Knuff, LLC, told the commission the project would not be viable if his client couldn’t have the proposed amount of residential space. The housing was necessary to generate interest in the small amount of retail space proposed.
Part of the issue for the potential buyers was that the location, just one street over from the Boston Post Road, at a five-point intersection of Old Tavern Road, Racebrook Road and Boston Post Road, was not desirable to national retailers.
“There is no chance they would come to this site,” Knuff said. “Otherwise they would be there.” He went on to say that if the commission voted against the proposed regulation they were choosing “the existing center and the existing vacancies.”
Firelight Plaza has been mostly empty for years, and recently lost Racebrook Wine and Liquor as a tenant.
Representatives for the potential buyers also presented traffic studies that suggested their proposed usage would create similar-to-less traffic at that intersection than what would occur if the plaza had full occupancy as it exists today.
Clark said that data was entirely theoretical and doubted it. Others including Goldblatt echoed his skepticism.
First Selectman James Zeoli spoke during the public hearing and noted that some of the things being proposed did not seem in-line with his expectations for the property based on conversations with the potential buyers.
The commission voted against amending the regulations to create the town center. Steven Wise, speaking on behalf of the LLC looking to make the purchase, said he did not know if they would attempt a new proposal.